The present disclosure relates to the field of therapy for correcting or improving a human stride, and more particularly to correctly fitting prosthetic limbs or braces.
As simple and typical as it may seem, walking is actually a complex motion involving multiple joints. As a person completes one complete stride, from one heel strike to the next heel strike on the same foot, the person's hips, knee, ankle and toe joints move through various planes and angles. Also, each person walks in a manner that is unique to them. A person's gait cycle is a measurement that quantifies such motion during a person's typical stride. Although there are average patterns in gait cycles, each person has a unique gait cycle.
Many people have flawed or irregular gait cycles. Biomechanical abnormalities can be caused by flaws in a person's gait cycle. Sometimes a person's gait cycle can be evaluated and corrected by treatment in order to correct or relieve such abnormalities.
Patients who have had lower limbs amputated or substantial injuries typically experience major alterations in their gait cycles. Many patients will alter their striding motion to compensate for their disability. This modified gait can potentially cause stress and long term damage to other areas of the body.
For amputees, in particular, the process of fitting a prosthesis often relies heavily on the judgment of the technician performing the fitting. Although such technicians can develop substantial skill with experience, they still must substantially rely on subjective judgment rather than empirical data. As such, optimizing the fit of a prosthesis, and particularly a lower-limb prosthesis, can be time-consuming and inexact.